State of the city

Chicago is no better or worse when it comes to homicides this year compared with last year.

The city logged 104 homicides from January through April, compared with 100 homicides during the same period last year, a RedEye analysis of preliminary police data found. Police say they saw two more homicides this year through April compared to the same period last year.

But the real test of violence-reduction methods will likely come in the next few months. Police spokesman Adam Collins acknowledged that crime spikes in the summer, when more people are out on the streets. The police plan to deploy more officers to violence hot spots this summer as part of a partnership with city agencies that will help coordinate efforts.

“We will continue building on our comprehensive violence reduction strategy, putting more officers in high-crime areas, using new tools to proactively intervene in gang conflicts and developing stronger relationships with community leaders,” Collins said in an email to RedEye.

Total homicide toll aside, there were a few similarities in the types of homicides and victims between this year and 2013, which police touted as recording the lowest homicide toll in decades. (The police reported 415 homicides at the end of last year, while RedEye counted 439 killings. RedEye’s count includes shootings deemed to be in self-defense and other cases the Cook County Medical Examiner’s Office determined to be homicides.)

This year, the city logged 83 gunshot homicides through April versus 80 such homicides last year during the same period, RedEye determined.

There were 90 male victims this year through April, compared to 88 male victims January through April 2013, RedEye found.

What is different in the first four months of this year compared with last is that some community areas that don’t usually see a high number of homicides have had a bad start this year. Plus, the city posted a typical homicide toll for January compared to an abnormally high January total last year.

Rogers Park and Logan Square each logged four homicides this year through April—the same number as West Englewood.

Rogers Park saw four homicides for all of 2013, while Logan Square saw five killings. West Englewood posted 21 homicides in 2013.

Englewood, which recorded 23 homicides in 2013, logged two killings this year through April.

A fairly quiet January helped this year’s toll. The city saw 23 homicides in January compared to 44 in January 2014. Homicides were up 44 percent February through April versus the same period in 2013.

In that respect, the city appears more in line with monthly tolls of 2011, which saw 105 killings from January through April. That year ended with 451 killings, RedEye determined.